Original image by There Stands the Glass.
I’d almost forgotten about hippies. Béla Fleck’s concert at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland on Tuesday, December 9, reacquainted me with the subculture. The show was the first hippie-dominated event I’ve attended in at least 20 months.
A funny smell permeated the air, many members of the audience of about 2,000 looked as if they were models at a sustainable clothing fashion show and yes, uninhibited noodle dancers frolicked in the balcony.
The stage production was almost nonexistent. Far more significantly, the low volume was wholly inadequate for the cavernous room. The speakers broadcasting the performance in the men’s room were louder than the sound field in the balcony.
The acoustic newgrass played by Fleck, guitarist Bryan Sutton, mandolinist Sam Bush, fiddler Stuart Duncan, dobroist Jerry Douglas and bassist Edgar Meyer was difficult to hear. The maddening disappointment at the pricey concert was enough to transform peace-loving hippies into brick-hurling punks.